


shining morning face

by bottomlinsons



Series: merely players [3]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Angst, Engagement, Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-27
Updated: 2019-07-27
Packaged: 2020-07-21 06:43:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19997584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bottomlinsons/pseuds/bottomlinsons
Summary: “Harry.” Louis' voice is clear enough that Harry falls silent. “What are you talking about?”Harry smiles like it’s obvious. “The engagement party.”(part three)





	shining morning face

**Author's Note:**

> I have loved hearing your thoughts about the series so far!!! 
> 
> thank you so much for reading, hope u love part three x

⬝

Louis keeps his distance. 

It’s the least he can do after getting them both into this mess. He wants to respect Harry’s boundaries and make sure that Harry doesn’t feel any more pressure than Louis has already put on him, so he keeps his phone out of sight, locks his front door, and stays on his couch for three days straight. 

It’s the best thing for everyone. 

On day three of resolutely not looking at his phone, Louis is two seasons deep into  _ The Good Place _ and has placed four separate orders with Uber Eats. He had to answer the door to the same delivery driver on orders three and four, actually, but he’s well past shame. 

It’s the no-shame thing that’s also why he’s wearing three-day-old sweatpants and a stained band tee when he opens the door to find Harry on the other side. 

“Harry.” It’s such a surprise that Louis takes a full step backwards. 

Harry looks far better than Louis does. His clothes are clean, to start with, and his hair looks like it’s been washed in the last twenty-four hours. He’s smiling too, a soft and rueful thing which lights something warm in Louis’ belly. “Hi.” 

Louis thinks there may be tomato sauce in his beard. He’s really been in a bit of a tailspin. “You’re here.” 

Harry nods. “I am.” 

Louis stares for a moment longer before he catches himself. Abruptly, he takes another step backwards, leaving room for Harry to step inside. “Sorry, shit. Come in.” 

The apartment is in a much better state than Louis is. He’s not been taking great care of himself, sure, but he’s not a slob. Besides, his life is a mess enough as it is. He doesn’t need dirty dishes or old laundry adding to that. He’s got clean clothes in his room, actually. Maybe Harry wouldn’t mind if he raced to his room to change into something nicer, but would that be too obvious?

Louis is still thinking about it when Harry wraps him up in a tight hug. Very quickly, all his clothes concerns fly straight out of Louis’ head. He freezes for a fraction of a second, before sinking into Harry’s embrace. He’s warm, like always, and tears spring to just behind Louis’ eyes. It’s just  — he’d thought  —

Well, he thought Harry wasn’t going to forgive him. 

When he reaches up to hug Harry back, it’s probably the tightest he’s ever held anyone in the world. 

Harry rubs his hand across Louis’ back, breathing deeply into Louis’ shoulder before gently pulling back. “How have you been?” 

Louis bites his bottom lip, a habit, and nods hurriedly. “Good, yeah. You?” 

“Same.”

The warmth from the hug seems to disappear as quickly as it arrived. This is awkward, Louis realises with a sinking feeling in his stomach. He and Harry  _ aren’t _ awkward. 

Harry clears his throat. “So I’ve been thinking. We should have the party pretty soon. I don’t want to leave it too long.” Louis blinks a few times, immediately lost, but Harry doesn’t give him any time to catch up. “I was thinking maybe Thursday next week? It doesn’t have to be a big thing, we can keep it small.” 

Louis frowns. “What?” 

Harry just keeps going. It’s something he does when he’s nervous, babbling like this, but Louis’ never been on the other end of it. “We could do it at The Fox, maybe? I think they’d let us book that little courtyard out the back?” 

“Harry.” Louis’ clear enough this time that Harry falls silent. “What are you talking about?” 

The thing is, Louis thinks maybe he already knows. He can’t tell if he wants to be right or not, though. 

Harry smiles like it’s obvious. “The engagement party.” 

“The engagement party?” 

If Louis’ voice sounds off, Harry doesn’t seem to notice. “Yeah. Or, shit, do you have something on that day already? Obviously, it’s super flexible, we could do maybe the week after?” 

The word ‘engagement’ is spinning circles around in Louis’ head. Harry is talking about an engagement party, an engagement party for the two of them. How is that  — how can he sound this normal? 

Louis swallows. He’s been quiet long enough that it’ll be obvious soon. “Uh. Yeah, okay.” 

Harry grins. “Good!” He reaches out at rubs at Louis’ arms. He looks excited, but Louis can’t figure out why for the life of him. “Okay, yes. I don’t think we’ll need any fancy invitations, do you? We can just do a Facebook event, I think that’ll be fine.” 

And it’s just. 

It’s a lot.

Louis needs  — h e needs space. Just a little, so that he’s not touching Harry anymore. So that he can think. 

He takes a step back, shrugging out of Harry’s grip and moving towards the kitchen. “Do you want a drink?” 

Harry blinks. “Huh?” He catches up quickly when Louis motions at the fridge. “Oh, yeah. That’d be great.” 

He nods when Harry pulls some lemonade out and moves to sit at the kitchen island while Louis pours them both a glass. He doesn’t leave them in silence though, diving right back in where he left off. 

“I’m thinking maybe twenty, thirty people? Thanks.” He takes the glass Louis offers him, has a sip, then continues. “Obviously we’ll ask the boys. Do you want to see when your sisters are available?” 

Dread drips cold down Louis’ spine. 

He coughs a little. “You, uh. You want to bring our families into this?”

It’s a stupid question. They’re fucking engaged, Louis  _ proposed.  _ You can’t do that without thinking about family, and both of them have families that like to be involved. It’s a miracle that they haven’t heard already, but Louis’ an idiot if he thinks that’s going to last forever. 

Louis glances up to look at Harry and catches the first waver of uncertainty he’s seen all day. “Well, yeah, Lou.” He bites his lip, and Louis hates that he suddenly looks so unsure. “I don’t really see how your plan is going to work without them.” 

Harry’s right. Of course, Harry’s fucking right. 

“Yeah, sorry,” Louis shakes his head. “Should have thought of that.” 

He should have thought about a lot of things. 

Harry doesn’t look away from him, though. He leans forward, elbows on the island and his chin resting on his hand. Louis’ seen the look he’s wearing before, but he’s never been able to read it properly. He knows enough to know what question is coming next. 

“Are you alright?” 

Louis nods as quickly as he can. “Yeah.” He hopes he sounds relaxed, effortless, but Harry just keeps watching. “I guess I just. Maybe you could just slow down a bit for me? I thought, um. Aren’t you angry with me?” 

It feels stupid, pushing his luck like this. If Harry isn’t angry then Louis should just let it be, right? But he can’t go from where they were last time they spoke to planning their engagement party without talking about it. That’s only going to make everything that much worse. 

Harry’s face stays soft, though. Open. 

Fuck, Louis loves that about him. 

Harry takes a deep breath and pauses this time before he speaks. He seems to be mulling over his words, and Louis is happy to let him. It’s worth it, when Harry says, “I was confused when it happened, but I’ve had some time to think about it. I’m not angry with you, or upset. It’s a good plan.” 

Right. Jonathan. The plan. 

“You think so?” He forces a smile on his face. 

Harry nods. “Yeah.” 

Louis swallows thickly. “So you think it’ll work? With Jonathan?” He watches the benchtop in front of him so that he doesn’t have to see what Harry’s face does at that. He’s seen enough of Harry’s Jonathan smiles to last a lifetime. 

“Oh,” Harry says. “Yeah. Absolutely. It’ll really show that I’m, uh, serious. You know, that I’m looking for something serious.” 

Louis digs his nails into his palm but makes sure that his face is unmoved. “Okay. Great. Wicked.” 

He needs to go back to bed. 

“You’re so far away,” Harry says abruptly. 

Louis frowns. “What?” 

Harry spins on his stool, angling his body out from behind the island and opening up his arms. “Come here,” he says. “I’ve missed you.”

God. If Louis wasn’t such a glutton for punishment maybe he’d stay on his side of the kitchen. As it is, it takes him about five seconds to get to Harry, to wrap his arms around his waist and to bury his face in Harry’s neck. 

Harry settles his hand over the back of Louis’ neck. He pats at Louis’ hair, so gently that Louis’ not even sure Harry’s noticed he’s doing it. 

“You’re a really fucking good friend, you know that right?” Harry’s voice is low at Louis’ ear, close enough that his breath spills out on Louis’ skin. It makes him shiver  — something he hopes that Harry doesn’t notice. As for Harry’s question, he’s got no clue what to say to that so he just grumbles into Harry’s shoulder. 

Harry pulls back a bit, making sure he can look at Louis. It’s close, too fucking close, but Louis doesn’t put any more space between them. 

“I’m serious,” Harry says, squeezing Louis’ shoulder. “You’re - you doing all of this for me. I get it. I know what it means.” 

Christ, Louis has never prayed so hard that Harry’s wrong about something. If Harry knew what it meant, if he knew why Louis has put them in this mess, he wouldn’t be so grateful. 

“You put so many people in front of yourself,” Harry goes on. “I just want to be sure someone’s looking after you. You deserve it.” 

Louis clenches his jaw and tries to smile. “Right.” 

Unsurprisingly, Harry doesn’t look convinced or pleased by Louis’ response, but he lets it go. Then his eyes light up, as a thought clearly occurs to him. “Oh, hey! I went past the shops on the way here.” 

“You did.” 

Harry grins. “Yeah. If we’re going to do this, we better do it right, hey?” 

He digs his hand into his pocket. Harry’s a pretty straightforward guy, so Louis knows exactly what he’s looking at as soon as Harry opens up his palm. Two simple silver rings, a simple clear stone set right in the middle of the band. 

“Wow, okay.” 

Harry reaches out for Louis’ hand and slips one of the rings onto Louis’ finger. It’s a quick, smooth movement, without an ounce of hesitation. It’s heavy and cold, all of the things that Louis’ never thought about when he’s seen people wearing wedding rings. Noticing it now makes Louis’ stomach sink. 

“Oh hey, look at that.” Harry squeezes Louis’ hand. “Fits perfect.” 

⬝

**Author's Note:**

> well, shit, now they're really in it
> 
> leave ur comments below and pls boost the [tumblr post](https://bottomlinsons.tumblr.com/post/185926827282) x


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